Mannerisms

AT&T, the US wireless operator, has just produced figures showing a surge in data usage and a huge gain in subscribers - something which all telcos would give their eye-teeth for.

And the sole reason for this success was AT&T's position as the sole US wireless network with the iPhone.

Why did AT&T's wireless revenues grow 38 per cent in the quarter? Largely because of data usage - web-browsing, email, text.

And the greatest driver of all of that was the Apple Apps Store which - tomorrow April 24^th - is on track to record its one billionth download.

When the telcos sweated their wotsits off trying to produce apps like location-based services, their efforts were largely useless.

Now Apple, by throwing apps development open to the developers of the world, has transformed apps into a powerful driver of wireless phone revenues.

Also that key performance metric which many telcos had given up on in the developed world - gaining new subscribers - is soaring at AT&T.

In Q109 AT&T acquired 1.2 million new subscribers of whom 875,000 signed up to contracts which is a 24 per cent increase on Q108..

Activations of new iPhones totalled 1.6 million, 40 per cent of which were for new customers.

This looks like a major change in the wireless firmament. The iPhone's air interface is so good it makes browsing hassle-free; its Apps Store provides a host of new reasons to browse; Americans are signing up to this formula in droves and, where America leads, the rest of the world will surely follow.